“You are afraid I should forget that you don’t.”
“I almost—oh, a long way from quite! I almost liked you yesterday when you thrashed the carter and tied him up so neatly. It was beautifully done—all those knots! I suppose you learned them on board of the yacht, didn’t you?”
“I’ve yachted a good deal,” said Brook.
“Generally with that party?” inquired Clare.
“No. That was the first time. My father has an old tub he goes about in, and we sometimes go together.”
“Is he coming here in his ‘old tub’?”
“Oh no—he’s lent her to a fellow who has taken her off to Japan, I believe.”
“Japan! Is it safe? In an ‘old tub’!”
“Oh, well—that’s a way of talking, you know. She’s a good enough boat, you know. My father went to New York in her, last year. She’s a steamer, you know. I hate steamers. They are such dirty noisy things! But of course if you are going a long way, they are the only things.”